![\"Philadelphia](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Bryce-Harper.jpg\")
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Bryce Harper #3 of the Philadelphia Phillies reacts after striking out against Bryce Elder #55 of the Atlanta Braves during the first inning in Game Three of the Division Series at Citizens Bank Park on October 11, 2023 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Bryce Harper has been the face of the Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> since joining the team back in 2019. After starting out his career with the Washington Nationals<\/a>, Harper made the transition to the Phillies and has helped keep the team in contention for years.<\/p>\n Last season, the 33-year-old outfielder turned first baseman struggled a bit. He played in 132 games and didn\u2019t look like his usual superstar self.<\/p>\n Harper hit 27 home runs to go along with 75 RBI and 12 stolen bases, while also producing a slash line of .261\/.357\/.487.<\/p>\n Following his down season, Philadelphia general manager Dave Dombrowski made some controversial comments. He shared his doubt about whether Harper can be an elite player again or not.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s still a quality player. He\u2019s still an All-Star-caliber player. He didn\u2019t have an elite season like he has had in the past. And I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or he continues to be good,\u201d Dombrowski said<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look around the league, I think \u2026 Freddie Freeman: He\u2019s a really good player, right? He still is a good player. Is he elite like he was before? Probably not to the same extent. Freddie is a tremendous player, and that, to me, is Bryce. Can he rise to the next level again? I don\u2019t really know that answer. He\u2019s the one that will dictate that more than anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n Those comments didn\u2019t sit well with Harper. They have caused some unrest in the relationship, which has led to some trade rumblings throughout the offseason.<\/p>\n Philadelphia Phillies Linked to Potential Bryce Harper Trade With NL Opponent<\/p>\n As the trade rumors surrounding Harper continue to simmer, an intriguing and surprising idea has been suggested. How about the longtime star being traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a>?<\/p>\n FanSided\u2019s Mark Powell has taken a look<\/a> at potential moves the Pirates could explore if they were open to trading top prospect Konnor Griffin.<\/p>\n While looking at those options, a potential trade with the Phillies for Harper was brought up.<\/p>\n \u201cHarper playing in Pittsburgh would be a strange fit. But the Pirates don\u2019t have many bats. Harper can play corner outfield or first base,\u201d Powell wrote. \u201cCherington needs both of these, despite signing Ryan O\u2019Hearn and trading for Jhostynxon Garcia.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though he suggested Harper as a potential trade fit, he also said that it\u2019s highly unlikely Pittsburgh would have interest in trading Griffin for an aging star.<\/p>\n How Bryce Harper Has Responded to Phillies\u2019 Drama<\/p>\n In the aftermath of the comments made by Dombrowski, Harper has been open and honest about his dislike for what was said.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t get motivated by that kind of stuff,\u201d Harper said. \u201cFor me, it was kind of wild the whole situation of that happening. I think the big thing for me was, when we first met with this organization, it was, \u2018Hey, you know, we\u2019re always going to keep things in-house, and we expect you to do the same.\u2019 And so, you know, when that didn\u2019t happen, kind of took me for a run a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n There is a very legitimate chance that Dombrowski\u2019s words could have caused a rift between the two parties. If that is the case, a trade down the road might be inevitable.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, Harper is still a high-impact player. Whether or not he returns to his former superstar form or not, the Phillies are playing with fire.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tEvan Massey<\/a> Evan Massey is a sports reporter and analyst located in Indianapolis, Indiana who covers the NFL, NBA, MLB, WNBA, and college sports. He has been featured on many publications, including Newsweek, Athlon Sports, ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Sporting News, and many others. In his free time, Evan enjoys spending time with his wife and son. More about Evan Massey<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Phillies\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Bryce Harper #3 of the Philadelphia Phillies reacts after striking out against Bryce Elder #55 of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2398],"tags":[5,4,415,414,71,4222],"class_list":{"0":"post-609987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-nationals","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-nationals","11":"tag-washington","12":"tag-washington-nationals","13":"tag-washingtonnationals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116183013862597377","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}